1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to a folding radome designed to protect relatively large-sized equipment, such as telescopes, radars, telecommunications antenna, etc. and, possibly, military, industrial and sports installations, from atmospheric influences.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Until now, such equipment has been given protection from atmospheric influences, either by rigid domes with windows or inflatable radomes with screened openings. In these rigid domes or inflatable radomes, the window or opening which enables unhampered communication with the external atmosphere usually comprises a fixed position or orientation by which it is difficult, if not practically impossible, to change without rendering the very installation of these facilities expensively mobile.
A limitation of unhampered communication with the external atmosphere through the fixed orientation of this window or opening sometimes becomes a major disadvantage in the running of certain installations such as one protecting an installation for astronomical observation, for example a telescope. Besides, radomes of the prior art often are either radomes with fixed, metallic, reinforcing structures or inflatable radomes without metallic, reinforcing structures. A radome with a fixed, metallic, reinforcing structure is a radome provided with a fixed, solid, metallic frame mounted on a rigid substructure and lined with an impermeable, flexible cover. Such radomes stand up well to atmospheric influences and strong wind owing to their solid metallic frames. However, for an installation in a place which is poorly accessible to transport vehicles, for example a place located in a mountainous region surrounded by thick forest without practical means of access, the transportation of equipment and materials for building this solid frame of the radome raises problems that are difficult to resolve in an economical way. Inflatable radomes without metallic reinforcing structures, according to the prior art, are often radomes with flexible covers held in position by beams in the form of flexible, cylindrical tubes, inflated under a predetermined pressure which makes them rigid in varying degrees. These radomes of the prior art are light but are more or less vulnerable to strong winds and do not withstand these winds when one or more of these beams are deflated following an accidental leak or a puncture.